Ḥawthara Ibn Suhayl
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Ḥawthara ibn Suhayl al-Bāhilī () (died 750) was a
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
Arab Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
administrator and military leader in the final years of the
Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...
. The philosopher
al-Kindī Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ; ; ) was an Arab Muslim polymath active as a philosopher, mathematician, physician, and music theorist. Al-Kindi was the first of the Islamic peripatetic philosophers, and is ...
describes him as famous for his eloquence. Ḥawthara was appointed ''wālī'' (governor) of Egypt in AD 745 ( AH 128) by the Caliph
Marwān II Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan (; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 744 until his death. His reign was dominated by a civil war, and he was the last Umayyad r ...
. He was dispatched with a large army drawn from the '' jund'' (army) of '' bilād al-Shām'' (Syria). Egypt at that time was under the ''de facto'' government of Ḥafṣ ibn al-Walīd, the former governor who had resigned at the accession of Marwān II. His body of non-Arab troops, the ''Ḥafṣīya'', forced him back into power. He refused, however, to oppose Ḥawthara and, after some negotiations, the latter entered Fusṭāt, the capital of Egypt. Once in power, Ḥawthara purged the leadership of the ''Ḥafṣīya'' and executed Ḥafṣ himself. He recruited 2,300 troops from among the Umayyad clients (''
mawālī ''Mawlā'' (, plural ''mawālī'' ), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the ter ...
'') and the
Qays Qays ʿAylān (), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe may not have functioned as a unit in pre-Islamic Arabia (before 630). However, by the ea ...
tribal confederation. His takeover of Egypt was a violent affair. He had to deal with a Coptic revolt in Bashmur. According to Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, he launched multiple attacks against the rebels from land and sea but failed to subdue them. In 749, Marwān II came in person with another Syrian army, but his proposed armistice was rejected. In an effort to break the stalemate, Ḥawthara seized the Coptic patriarch, Khaʾil I, held him hostage in Rashīd and threatened to kill him. The gambit failed and the rebels sacked Rashīd. Although he ordered Khaʾil's execution, Ḥawthara called it off at the last minute. In January 749, Ḥawthara was sent to bolster the forces of
Ibn Hubayra Ibn Hubayra () may refer to: * Umar ibn Hubayra (fl. 710s–720s), Umayyad general and governor of Iraq * Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra (died 750), Umayyad general and governor of Iraq, son of the above * Awn ad-Din ibn Hubayra Awn al-Din Abu'l-Mu ...
during the Abbasid uprising. According to
al-Ṭabarī Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day ...
, he brought with him 20,000 Syrian troops, including cavalry, to
Fallūja Fallujah ( ) is a city in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. Situated on the Euphrates River, it is located roughly to the west of the capital city of Baghdad and from the neighboring city of Ramadi. The city is located in the region defined as ...
. When Qaḥṭaba ibn Shabīb marched on
Kūfa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Najaf, ...
, Ḥawthara advised Ibn Hubayra to head to
Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...
so that Qaḥṭaba would either follow him or be defeated by Marwān at Kūfa. Ibn Hubayra rejected the advice and put Ḥawthara in charge of the vanguard ordering him to try to beat Qaḥṭaba to Kūfa. On 28 August 749, a major battle was fought near Kūfa in which Qaḥṭaba was killed but the Umayyad army was forced to retreat. Ḥawthara retreated as far as the place called
Qaṣr ibn Hubayra Qasr Ibn Hubayra () was a city of medieval Iraq, north of Hillah and Babylon. History The name ''Qasr Ibn Hubayrah'' means "the castle or palace of Ibn Hubayra", referring to the city's founder, Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra. He had been governor o ...
. From there he planned to march on Kūfa, where the governor, Muḥammad ibn Khalīd al-Qasrī, had joined the rebellion. When his troops began abandoning him, however, he decided to join Ibn Hubayra at
Wāsiṭ Wasit (, ) was an early Islamic city in Iraq. It was founded in the 8th century by the Umayyad viceroy of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, to serve as the region's seat and as the garrison of the Syrian troops who enforced Umayyad rule there. It was s ...
. Ḥawthara advised Ibn Hubayra not to remain in Wāsiṭ, but he was ignored. Wāsiṭ was besieged for eleven months, during which time he served as head of the '' shurṭa''. After its surrender, according to al-Ṭabarī, Ḥawthara was executed on the orders of Abū Jaʿfar. According to Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, however, he was executed in Egypt by Marwān II.


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* * * * * {{Governor of Egypt during Umayyad Caliphate, state=expanded 750 deaths 8th-century Umayyad governors of Egypt Year of birth unknown People of the Third Fitna People of the Abbasid Revolution 8th-century Arab people Bahila